At the end of the first semester Jack and Henry got a three-day weekend and we took advantage of it to head up to Whistler for yet some more skiing - resort #7 of the season!
It was very stormy - lots of powder on the slopes (which made it for harder skiing for some!) and a lot of the terrain at the top of the mountain above the tree line was closed for high winds and avalanche danger. But, regardless, it's a huge mountain and we all enjoyed getting in another snow-filled weekend.
With the kids having a three-day weekend for MLK Day, we drove down to Bend, Oregon to ski at Mount Bachelor.
We had skied there last year and the boys really enjoyed it, so it was high on our list to return there this year. It became our fifth resort of the season, and while there wasn't as much snow as last year, it was sunny and bright with amazing views.
Mount Bachelor is a 9,000 foot high mountain that you can, when conditions allow, ski from the very top of - and in fact the summit route was open during our trip this year (after being closed last year). The views of the neighboring mountains and valley were beautiful, and the town of Bend is great as well, including the home of Dad's favorite micro-brew, Deschutes Brewery.
Driving in toward Mt. Bachelor. The "Summit" lift goes to the very top of the mountain and you can ski down from there.
"Take the picture already so I can go back to skiing"
Neighboring mountains - South Sister on the left and Broken Top on the right
Heading up the lift
Henry skiing off at the start of the day
Early morning on the slopes - sunrise on the horizon
On his way back to Michigan after Christmas Break, Joseph's plane flew right over our house. He was able to take a photo with Mount Rainier in the background as well!
Since we were up at Sun Peaks for Christmas, we celebrated Christmas Eve the day we returned - December 28 - with our usual traditions of making cookies, going bowling, opening a few presents, and getting takeout from Outback Steakhouse. Then Christmas morning was December 29.
Cozy Christmas Eve
Top present was a pool table, installed on our Christmas Day
We had a wonderful week up in Sun Peaks from Dec 21 - 27. Lots of great photos and videos.
We drove up on Wednesday 12/20, picking Joseph up at the airport. He flew from Detroit after his last final that morning. We drove up as far as Hope, BC (about 3.5 hours), with stops for dinner and the border crossing on the way.
We finished the drive Thursday morning and checked in to our condo in Trappers Landing. It was a nice three-level, four-bedroom condo, with easy access to the slopes. The boys skiied every day from Thursday to Tuesday, with John taking one day off and MJ taking two days off. Lots of good food in the quaint alpine village, and board games at night.
We drove back Wednesday December 27, a long 7.5 hour trek through the snow which we did in one day, arriving home at 6pm. A great trip.
Lots of great photos and videos. Here are some of the top moments from the trip:
This was our third trip to Sun Peaks. It's a beautiful spot, with lots of pine trees covered in snow; you look out on long forests as you take the lift rides up
We had a nice view from our condo - other condos, snow covered trees, and some of the ski runs in the distance
We rented a larger SUV to make sure we had enough space for the long drive up. Here's a shot of our car outside our condo
At Sun Peaks you can sign up to do "First Tracks" - be the first ones up the lift and have the mountain to yourself for the first hour. The boys did it on Saturday...
Waiting for the first lift ride up of the day
And then Joseph and Dad did it on Monday (Christmas Morning). You have two guides with you and you get an amazing view of the sun rising over the early-morning cloud cover.
It was very cold all week
Clear blue skies all around - Joseph is on the right
Joseph skiing down 5-Mile
Lots of time spent looking at the trail map to plan runs
We've all loaded the Trace app for our phones, which magically tracks how far you've skiied, maps what runs you've done, calculates your vertical distance, tracks the number of jumps you've done, and even tells you how many calories you've burned.
Over the course of the week, Jack skiied 151.9 miles, Joseph skiied 150.2 miles, John skiied 91.5 miles, Henry skiied 89.5 miles, and Mary Jo skiied 32.0 miles. Jack registered 925 jumps, and both Jack and Joseph had 12 hours of slope time.
Here's a screen shot of John's Trace summary from Friday - 19.9 miles skiied, 16.6K vertical.
Lots of skiing in beautiful spots - here's Joseph and Jack at the top of the Sunburst lift, above the cloud line.
One of Dad's favorite runs was Runaway Lane, which he did with Jack and Joseph a few times. It was a challenging blue run off to the side, with a beautiful view of the rest of the resort.
Panorama from the top of the run (click on the photo to see it larger)
Joseph
Jack
Jack looking out over the view, planning his run down
The run down - Jack is ahead (and fairly small on the screen at the start), then Joseph leaves and you can still see Jack in the distance.
Another favorite run from our past trips to Sun Peaks is "The Sticks". It's a beautiful trail with lots of tree "islands" along the run. Here's a video of Henry skiing the start of it, before skiing off into the fresher powder in the actual trees surrounding the run.
"Tely-Gram" became John and Mary Jo's favorite run. Right next to Sticks, which we've done for years, it a bit more challenging and has even more tree islands to "slalom" through. Here's a minute-long video of the start of the run:
Sun Peaks has a nice Alpine-style village, with lots of shops and restaurants. It's lit up beautifully at night and we spend several nights eating dinners there - including one night when we had the Canadian delicacy "poutine" (also known as French Fries with Onion Gravy & Cheese Curds on top) while watching the boys night-ski the terrain park outside.
Henry digging in to the Poutine
Lots of fun times and great memories - everyone was exhausted from all the skiing but had a great time. Perhaps it was all best said in this review left on Trace by someone named "Henry R." ! (click on it to be able to expand the size)
